The human spine is made up of consecutively aligned vertebral bodies. Each pair of adjacent vertebral bodies is separated and supported by an intervertebral disc positioned therebetween. Each intervertebral disc includes an annulus fibrosus which surrounds a central nucleus pulposus. Healthy discs are capable of carrying a tremendous load.
The annulus fibrosis is made up of both Type 1 and Type 2 collagen having a lamellar formation and an alternating fiber orientation. The annulus fibrosis provides axial support with the help of the nucleus pulposus, which maintains the vertical orientation of the annulus fibrosis.
Back pain affects millions of people in the United States and around the world. Back pain has a variety of causes. One of the most common causes of back pain is disc degeneration. Aging causes the disc to begin to desiccate or lose water. As the nucleus changes shape and loses height, the annulus begins to weaken as a result of increased load forces. A weakened annulus is susceptible to annular failure, which results in tears, bulges, and herniations of the annulus. Weakening of the components of the disc eventually causes increased deformation of the disc, which further weakens the nucleus. This cycle of deterioration encourages end plate degeneration and facet hypertrophy, and ultimately back pain escalation.
Currently, there are several ways to manage the pain associated with disc degeneration. The most conservative approach is to use pain medications such as NSAIDS, steroid packs, and narcotics. Most often, these medications are administered in conjunction with both physical and massage therapy. An alternative and preferred conservative approach is to inject epidural steroids. Back pain can also be mitigated by a minimally invasive procedure known as intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET). IDET includes thermal ablation of the inner annulus. The thermal energy associated with IDET repairs collagen and ultimately stimulates collagen synthesis. While IDET results in statistically significant pain and disability improvement, is more effective on patients with greater disability at the onset of treatment and therefore is a worthwhile intervention for some highly select patients. More aggressive treatment of back pain includes one of several lumbar spine surgeries such as a microdiscectomy, a fusion, a disc annuloplasty, a laminectomy, or a foraminotomy. While surgery is a viable option as a solution for back pain, it has inherent associated surgical risks, in-hospital recovery, significant failure rate, and an expensive process. As a result, better solutions for reducing or eliminating back pain are desirable.